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Tau Ceti is an excellent game, one of the best ever written - certainly the best for the Amstrad. Luckily CRL gave me my original copy of Tau Ceti on disk, but everyone else has to suffer the indignities of tape. Why didn't CRL release it on disk? Here's the answer: the disk version of the game is more than twice as big (there's only 4K left free on the disk!), with a huge amount of added extras.

The planet is about twice as big. Most cities also have outposts, that can be got to with portable jump units. There are more objects, like the extra shields in the original, such as the jump units.

There are more buildings, robot factories (excessively dangerous - don't go near them for a minute). Homing targetters help the fortresses aim at you (and are extremely difficult to shake off). Plus masses of other buildings and surface features like erupting volcanoes.

Some of the extra buildings have uses - the libraries give you access to the galactic data bank and time vaults. The time vaults have the extra equipment in them and the library computer gives you masses of cross-indexed information about all the facets of life on the planet, and the things that you will find there. There is also a list of the belligerent objects that you will find on the planet, along with their various strengths and weaknesses.

Also on the disk in a Fractal demo program from the same author (Peter Cooke) this is just an added extra and produces pretty patterns. They were going to put on another freebie program, but they didn't have room on the disk! But, never fear, Computer Gamer comes to the rescue and this extra program will be printed as a listing in a forthcoming issue of the magazine.

On the whole, if Tau Ceti is an excellent game, then Tau Ceti: Special Edition is an incredible one. No Amstrad disk owner should be without it!